VINELAND – Members of Vineland High School’s Advanced Placement U.S. Politics & Government course traveled to the federal courthouse in Camden this fall to compete in the court’s Constitution Day Mock Trial Event.

Students participated in a fictionalized court case involving First Amendment issues: free speech, free press, freedom of expression and school dress codes. Students acted as attorneys, trial witnesses and jurors in front of actual federal judges. U.S. Magistrate Judge Ann Marie Donio presided over Vineland’s winning plaintiff team, which competed against Middle Township High School.

The Vineland defendant team also competed against students from Middle Township in the courtroom of U.S. Magistrate Judge Joel Schneider.

“Great arguments were made on both sides of the issue,” VHS social studies teacher Lou Russo said. “Students learned judicial branch history, courtroom procedures, and did critical thinking on the meaning and application of our First Amendment freedoms.”

Russo said the students “enjoyed the challenge of thinking on their feet and the opportunity to put knowledge into practice.”

“Some students hoped that their next trip to a federal courthouse will be as a practicing attorney,” he added.

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